Day 11 and 12: αντίο to Greece, ciao di nuovo to Italy

After three glorious days at Mereviglia, we packed our bags and made our way up the coast to Igoumenitsa, where we were departing on the midnight boat. We stopped on the way to have a look at Parga, a beautiful resort but packed with holidaymakers, quite a shock after the isolation we had been experiencing. We ate our final spanokopita looking down onto the harbour from the grounds of the Venetian castle which perches above the village.

We then continued on our way. Arriving in Igoumenitsa, we visited the Archeological Museum which has an excellent collection of artifacts covering a period spanning from the middle Paleolithic period, 100.000 years ago, to the years of the Ottoman domination. The main focus is the Hellenistic Age, a period of remarkable prosperity for the region.

Having time still to kill  before we had to return the car, we decided to backtrack 5 km and have dinner in the beautiful harbour of Plataria. The dinner wasn't up to much, but the view  of the sun setting over Corfu was outstanding.


Boarding the boat at midnight we made for our cabin. When we rose in the morning the rain was raining hard over Bari. These rains were causing fatal floods a little further up Italy, but here they just made us foot passengers very very damp as we again had to dodge the disembarking lorries while we walked quite a way to get to the terminal. The organisation at Bari terminal for foot passengers does leave quite a lot to be desired.

From here on our plans had been changed quite a bit. We had been planning to meet some dear friends, who happened also to be travelling through Italy, for lunch in Bari. However, unfortunately Covid is still out there and getting in the way of the best laid plans, and one of our friends had tested positive. So lunch had to be cancelled. 

And because we wanted to be back in the UK for Queen Elizabeth's funeral, we had taken the decision to fly home instead of our original plan to take the train with stops in Milan and Paris. 

So we had booked our final night in a hotel outside Bari within taxi distance from the airport. Villa delle Querce is an old hunting lodge within wonderful gardens, and some interesting furniture and decor.


The hotel is family owned, and the family and staff were very welcoming and helpful. The rain stopped and we had a final delicious dinner outside in a garden lit by magical lights.



 





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